Hug of Steel
by LnknInsanity
Summary: This is the day Lucy's mum died and she is very upset. Erza can't figure out how to make her feel better until she finds Lucy's journal it gives her a great idea! Give Lucy a hug! But we all know what Erza's hugs are like.


Hey guys! this is my first fairy tail fanfic ever! my friend got me into Fairy Tail and i absolutely adore it! I love Lucy x(?) pairings but this idea came into my head and I HAD to wirte it btw this is not yuri i think it is shoujou-ai this is a one-shot and...

please review!

ps: disclaimer: i don't own Fairy Tail it belongs to Hiro Mashima. But i donown this idea!

* * *

The guild was unusually quiet, normally it was bubbling with laughter with Grey and Natsu fighting which leads to Grey randomly stripping with Juvia watching behind a pillar cheering for 'her Grey-sama' and Happy trying to give Charle a fish which she would coldly reject. Even Cana had swapped her humongous barrel for a bottle of beer today and Elfman was not shouting how 'MAN!' things were. Lucy had not come to the guild today being close to the day Igneel had disappeared and the day Lucy's mother Layla had died. Lucy had not shown up at the guild for a few days and Natsu was being serious for once and ignored Grey's and Gajeel's attempts at starting a fight and Happy's attempts to give him a fish to cheer him up. Everyone had started to get worried, they all knew Natsu would mope for a bit then would be back to his idiot self, but they were not sure about Lucy. They had no idea what she would act like for the next couple of days.

Erza was not enjoying her cake as much as she normally did she was too worried about her nakama to enjoy the delicious strawberry cake Mirajane had made her, not that that stopped her from eating it of course. This could not continue, nothing got in the way of her cake or hurt her nakama's feelings especially not Lucy! Lucy had always held a special place in Erza's heart, Lucy had always been special to Erza ever since she saw how much she cared for her nakama and what a caring girl she was.

"Gray! Natsu!" she called over to the two boys sitting by the bar.

They both immediately wrapped an arm around each other's shoulders and said "A-a-aye!"

"We are going to Lucy's apartment come on." She said walking out with the two boys following behind her and Happy following/flying behind Natsu.

* * *

When they arrived at Lucy's apartment the blonde celestial mage was nowhere to be seen.

"She must still be at her mum's grave." Grey said looking around.

Just then, Natsu stuck his head out of the door leading to the bathroom. "Yeah, she's not in the bathroom."

"What the hell Flame-brain! Don't enter someone's bathroom like that!"

"What did you say ice-freak?!"

Erza bonked them both on the head before they started a fight. "We didn't come here to fight we came here to help Lucy though it seems as though we are too late for our friend! Natsu! Grey! One of you please punch me!" she said clenching her fist.

They both sweat dropped. "there's no need to go that far." Grey said trying to calm down the red haired re-equip mage.

Happy was rummaging through her draws when he got to her underwear draw. "Hey Natsu! Look at this!" he said holding up what looked like a bra but was severely missing cloth. They all crowded around her underwear draw to look at the celestial mages skimpy underwear. While Natsu and Grey were looking at a piece of string which was supposed to be under wear, an unbidden image came into Erza's mind of a blushing Lucy wearing that piece for her. Erza quickly slammed the drawer shut so as to not get any images of the blonde mage. Erza closed the drawer so fast she heard something thump as it hit the back of the drawer; none of the celestial mages underwear was substantial enough to make that kind of a thump. Without thinking Erza quickly opened the drawer again and started to move aside all the underwear to find what made the noise.

"Erza?" a blushing Natsu asked seeing her going through the drawer. "What are you doing?"

Erza ignored him and quickly found what she was looking for, it was a small book bound in red leather and had a lock on the front.

Both Natsu and Grey looked over her shoulder to see what the little red book was. "Is that a diary?" Natsu said looking at the lock.

"No shit pointy eyes. What else could it be?" Grey said sarcastically.

"How am I supposed to know droopy eyes?! That's why I asked!" Natsu shouted back getting ready to fight.

As they fought Erza broke the lock and started to read the journal entries it seemed like Lucy had copied down the important letters in the book a long with some other entries which she wrote in red pen. Erza, Grey and Natsu had already read the letters from when Lucy went home so she skipped straight to the red entries, but as she started to read Natsu and Grey's yelling match got louder. "KNOCK IT OFF!" She shouted as she kicked them out the window this book could tell her how to make Lucy feel better and she could not read like this!

"Erza? What are you doing here? Did you just kick Natsu and Grey out the window? My Window!" Lucy said as she came in and saw the shattered glass on the floor.

Erza quickly hid the book behind her back and put it in the back of her armour. "Lucy! We came as your nakama to see if you are doing any better and I am deeply sorry for the window it is inexcusable please punch me!"

Lucy sweat dropped as she walked inside. "Don't worry about it, maybe you could just help me pay for it? then we'll call it even." She said trying to calm down the re-equip mage.

"Yes I shall come back tomorrow with the money!" she declared before seeing the tear stains on Lucy's face. "Are you okay Lucy?"

"Yeah I'm okay. I'm just tired I think I might take a nap." She said brushing past her as she headed for her bed.

If Erza felt bad about taking the diary before she definitely didn't now, she needed to find out how to make Lucy feel better.

"Okay well you get some rest. Leave the rest to us!" Erza said proudly going out to collect the two unconscious boys and head back to the guild.

* * *

When they arrived back at the guild Erza sat on a stool at the end of the bar and began to read furiously.

Erza could find nothing that said how to make Lucy happy. It only contained the letter copies and some entries of missions where something had happened and she got upset by it. then she noticed something that spiked her interest, there was a page where the letters had been smudged a bit by what seemed to be little drops of water. It was too inconsistent to be rain, what could it be?

Mirajane and Levy watched as the saw the red haired mage concentrate on the book.

"Levy did you give her a new book? she seems very into it." Mira asked.

"It wasn't me, I haven't given her any new books in months plus if it was from me she would be blushing not reading it like it has the key to life in it." the blue haired girl said looking warily at Erza.

They both jumped when Erza suddenly slammed the book closed and ran over to the solid-script mage. "Levy! What does it mean when there are little drops of water on a page?!" she asked staring seriously at the frightened girl.

"If they are not rain drops" at this Erza shook her head furiously. "Then it generally means that someone cried while writing or reading it." Levy said.

Erza stopped for a second before shouting "thanks!" and return to her seat and started reading furiously again.

She turned back to the page with the tear stains and began to read it was a letter to her mama.

_Mama, I miss you so much. We went on a mission today and there was a mage with the power to bring back painful memories and torture you with them. At first it showed me some of my favourite memories with you, like when I would fall over and you would hug me and treat me to calm me down. And when you would come in from your garden smelling like flowers and I would hug you to say welcome back and then it showed when you used to read me stories and give me a hug and a good night kiss before I went to sleep. But after that he showed me the day you died how I was all alone and how much father changed. It felt like all the warmth had been sapped out of the world when that happened mama and as I sit here in my room again I can't help but feel like I am alone again, don't get me wrong I love my guild they have become a second family to me but I couldn't really tell them this, I couldn't be comforted by them. I want to be a strong part of their team and not be coddled. But when this happened I just felt like I needed you again, I needed your warmth and your smile as you told me it was all right. But I am okay now Erza and the others pulled me out before he could do anything seriously but that night I was crying so much I think I might have suffocated Plue with my hug. I love you mama._

Erza stopped reading and thought for a minute when anybody is sad you try and hug them to cheer them up and even like this even though she didn't admit it Lucy did want a hug, she wanted to rest on someone's shoulder and cry for a bit. So that settles it tomorrow she will hug the heck out of Lucy until, she feels better. But wait a minute she remembered something in another letter; she flipped to the page with it on it and started reading.

_Dear mama,_

_Erza and the rest of us went on a s-class mission today! Erza did most of the work she is so strong, kind and beautiful. She's not the gentlest person but her heart is in the right place. Like when she tried to calm down Natsu's motion sickness she tried to hug him but she just knocked his head on her breast plate and knocked him out. She tried doing that to me too once, God that was painful! But Erza is the strongest person I know she's an S-class! I hope I can-_

Erza stopped reading for a minute. She wasn't that bad was she? She knew her armour was strong and that she had a lot of strength but did her hugs really hurt that much?

"Natsu!" she called over to the pink haired boy who was stuffing his face with fire food.

"A-aye!' he said turning around warily to the red haired mage.

"Come here." She said calmly.

Natsu confused did as asked; when he reached Erza she grabbed him and pulling him into a hug effectively knocking him out. Erza stepped back to see the effect of her hug and was shocked when she saw Natsu unconscious she shook him and yelled "Hey! Wake up!"

She tried again on Grey with the same result! As Erza walked away Juvia ran to the unconscious Grey's side yelling "Grey-sama!" before declaring Erza was a 'love rival!' which Erza ignored.

Erza was shocked, her hugs did hurt people! She couldn't hug Lucy like this! She could think of only one person who could help her. Lucy went to her all the time with problems and they had probably hugged. She would know what to do!

"MIRAJANE!" she yelled catching the white haired take-over mages attention.

"Erza? What's wrong?" she said looking Erza's panicking face.

"My hugs hurt!" she shouted, panicking. "what do I do?"

Mira looked confuse what had brought this on? "Maybe try taking off the armour when you hug people and maybe try and not use as much strength."

Erza nodded as she thought about this. She didn't want to take off her armour but maybe she could use one of her softer armours. Maybe she could use the cat suit like when they had gone back in time with Natsu or maybe just her normal clothes would be okay.

She went over to one of the pillars and tried to hug it without making a dint, she broke it in half.

"How do I control my strength?" Erza wondered aloud.

Mirajane took pity on her old rival and gave her a giant stuffed teddy bear. "take this home and practice, when you can hug it without it squishing it you should be fine."

Erza nodded and started to head to fairy hills to practice hugging. She came back in second after she left with the teddy bear ripped in half. "I need another one." She said holding out the teddy bear carcass to Mirajane.

Mira gave her a whole bag of them and hoped that would be enough.

* * *

The next day when Lucy walked into the guild the whole guild was looking slightly frightened. She walked over to Levy who was looking at the door nervously.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"yesterday Erza started practicing hugging. No one wants her to practice on them so we're all waiting for her to choose her victim." Levy explained.

As she said this the guild doors swung open revealing said re-equip mage in her normal armour, her eyes scanned the room looking for one specific person. She had practiced all night until she finally could hug the teddy bear without squishing it, now she looked for the person who she would test her training out on.

"Lucy!' she said running at the Blonde mage while re-equipping to her normal clothes.

Lucy saw the light of Erza changing and got up to run away from the s-class mage, '_what the hell did I do?! Why does she want to fight me?!' _she thought before running out the doors.

Erza looked shocked. Did her hugs really hurt that much that Lucy would even let her near her even when she didn't have the armour? Did she need softer armour? A gloomy aura settled over Erza as she walked over to the bar.

Mira looked sympathetically at her before giving her some advice. "Maybe when you hug her don't run at her that more of a tackle then a hug."

Erza lit up as she realised her mistake and ran out the door to follow Lucy.

"Good luck Erza." Mirajane said as she ran out.

* * *

As Erza ran after her she thought about what softer armour she could use to hug Lucy. As she saw the blonde celestial mage, she called out to her. "Lucy!"

Lucy looked back to see Erza re-equipping again and run as fast as she could to her apartment.

Erza looked up to see her run into her apartment. Not even this armour! It was just a cat suit! (A/N: from the ova memory days)

She didn't want to do this but it looked like she had no other choice, it was for her nakama! When she jumped into Lucy's room through the window she had broken earlier. She saw the celestial mage panting as she tried to catch her breath from the running she had done.

"Lucy." She said softly as she jumped into the room.

"Erza!" she yelled as she saw the mage that had been chasing her. "I'm sorry!"

"You're sorry? For what?" Erza said confused. Had Lucy done something?

"I don't know but I'm sorry! Please don't fight me!"

"why would I fight you? You are nakama. I just wanted to do something."

"W-what?" Lucy asked warily.

Erza re-equipped to wearing nothing and gently tried to hug Lucy.

Lucy was blushing Why is she naked? And why is she hugging her? It was still a tight hug but she hadn't broken any bones, so this must be Erza's gentle hug. "Erza?"

"You may cry now Lucy I've got you." Erza said awkwardly stroking her hair.

"What are you talking about? I am fine." Lucy said confused.

"You are sad and I am trying to hug you so you feel better." Erza explained.

"Erza put on some clothes and start from the beginning. What? Why are you naked and why are you hugging me?"

Erza re-equipped to her normal armour with a sigh of relief. "I was naked because when I hug with armour it's too hard so I tried my other armour but that didn't work so then I tried no armour."

That's why she kept re-equipping? "and why are you trying to hug me?"

"You were sad after yesterday so I tried to hug you better that what you said in the book." she said pulling out Lucy's red journal. "I trained for this all night!" Erza said with a fierce look of determination in her eyes.

"You stole my journal!" Lucy said slightly angry.

"I know I should not have but it was for the sake of my nakama! I had to but please punch me anyway for what I did was inexcusable!" Erza said clenching her fist.

Lucy sweat dropped but then smiled at her friend's kind heartedness. "Erza re-equip to your normal clothes" Erza did as requested and Lucy hugged her gently.

"Thank you. I was sad but I feel better now thanks to you guys. I can always depend on you guys!" Lucy smiled a little teary-eyed.

Erza hugged back as gently as she could. "I am sorry I could not be of help before but now that I know how to hug I shall be able to hug you whenever you feel sad!" Erza said determinedly and smiled at her dear friend.

* * *

crappy ending but i wasnt sure how else to end it. please tell me what you think. good? bad? ugly? and if you have any comments or criticism review that too!

until next time

Lnkn-chan


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